tag:www.portlandmonthlymag.com,2005:/arts-and-entertainment/theater/feedTheater2015-07-30T11:00:00-07:00tag:www.portlandmonthlymag.com,2005:Article/126872015-07-30T11:00:00-07:002015-07-30T11:00:00-07:00Top Things to Do in Portland this Weekend: July 30–Aug 2<figure class="c-align--center c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="47123" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="center" data-image-caption="&lt;div class=&quot;c-media__caption mceNonEditable&quot;&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Lake Street Dive performing at the Pickathon Woods Stage. Photo credit:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;/producers/eli-duke&quot;&gt;ELI DUKE&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;" data-image-selection="{&quot;x1&quot;:0,&quot;y1&quot;:0,&quot;x2&quot;:1080,&quot;y2&quot;:720,&quot;width&quot;:1080,&quot;height&quot;:720}"><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_720,w_1080,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_1080/v1438280771/9606676111_c0808029de_k_ryvk6o_pcxohw.jpg" alt="9606676111 c0808029de k ryvk6o pcxohw" /> <figcaption>
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<p>Lake Street Dive performing at the Pickathon Woods Stage. Photo credit:&nbsp;<a href="/producers/eli-duke">ELI DUKE</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>
<p><em>From prix fixe to Pickathon &amp; beyond, it&rsquo;s your weekend itinerary&mdash;<strong>plus more picks below!</strong>&mdash; courtesy of&nbsp;</em>Portland Monthly<em>&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="/features/2015/6/22/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-perfect-portland-summer">2015 Summer Guide</a>:</em></p>
<p>Prep for the&nbsp;rustic Happy Valley hoedown we know as Pickathon by treating yourself to a classy dose of Friday fine dining at the sleekly modern&nbsp;<strong>Holdfast</strong>, which offers a nine-course tasting menu with the kind of exquisite small plates and wine pairings you probably won&rsquo;t find at Pendarvis Farm&rsquo;s annual roots music jamboree. Saturday morning, get thee&nbsp;<strong>Pickathon</strong>-bound and (cowboy boots donned and tent pitched) find a choice spot to lay your blanket near the Mountain View stage, where you can wait for just about everyone you know to amble by. Come nightfall, tick off a show at the fairy-tale Woods Stage, and indulge in some late-night stomping in the Lucky Barn. En route home on Sunday, take a detour by&nbsp;<strong>Powell Butte Nature Park</strong>&nbsp;for a rousing hike to the summit of this extinct volcano, where, if the day is clearer than your head, you&rsquo;ll be treated to eye-popping views of Mounts Hood, St. Helens, Adams,&nbsp;<em>and</em>&nbsp;Jefferson. Back in town, slough off that festival grime with a leisurely dip in the&nbsp;<strong>Kennedy School</strong>&rsquo;s winningly old-school soaking pool&mdash;unless, in your post-Pickathon glow, you&rsquo;d feel more at home in the clothing-optional bathhouse up the street at&nbsp;<strong>Common Ground</strong>.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>MUSIC</h3>
<figure class="c-align--left c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="47118" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="left" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;The Fourth Wall. Photo by&amp;nbsp;Paul Laxer.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;" data-image-selection="{&quot;x1&quot;:0,&quot;y1&quot;:0,&quot;x2&quot;:640,&quot;y2&quot;:425,&quot;width&quot;:640,&quot;height&quot;:425}"><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_425,w_640,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1438279775/Screen_Shot_2015-07-29_at_4.36.48_PM_i36mx8_eo0p3q.png" alt="Screen shot 2015 07 29 at 4.36.48 pm i36mx8 eo0p3q" /> <figcaption>
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<p>The Fourth Wall. Photo by&nbsp;Paul Laxer.&nbsp;</p>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.mississippistudios.com/event/851279-my-body-portland/"><strong>The Fourth Wall</strong></a><br /><em>Sunday at 9 pm, Mississippi Studios</em><br />Recent Portland transplants The Fourth Wall&mdash;drawn here by praise from The Shins and Menomena&mdash;have a new album out this Friday on Bug Hunt (Tender Loving Empire&rsquo;s sister imprint).&nbsp;<em>Lovely Violence</em>&nbsp;is the quartet&rsquo;s second album, but the first since they moved here from Hawaii. <a target="_blank" href="/articles/2015/7/30/listen-to-the-fourth-wall-s-new-album-right-here">Sneak peek here</a>!</p>
<h3>BOOKS &amp; TALKS</h3>
<p><a target="_blank" href="/events/rinker-buck"><strong>Rinker Buck</strong></a><br /><em>Thursday at 3 pm, Powell's City of Books</em><br />The author of&nbsp;<em>Flight of Passage</em>&nbsp;and his kid brother take on the Oregon Trail &hellip; the old fashioned way. Buck&rsquo;s new memoir&nbsp;<em>The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey&nbsp;</em>recounts their adventurous and heartfelt trip from Montana, mule-drawn covered wagon and all.&nbsp;We <a target="_blank" href="/articles/2015/7/29/what-s-it-like-to-travel-the-oregon-trail-in-a-mule-led-covered-wagon">chat with the author</a> in advance of his reading.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<figure class="c-align--right c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="47119" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="right" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;Photo credit Zak Mulligan.&lt;/p&gt;" data-image-selection="{&quot;x1&quot;:0,&quot;y1&quot;:0,&quot;x2&quot;:1060,&quot;y2&quot;:702,&quot;width&quot;:1060,&quot;height&quot;:702}"><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_702,w_1060,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1438279849/Screen_Shot_2015-07-28_at_12.53.01_PM_dxbrgb_lnfmj2.png" alt="Screen shot 2015 07 28 at 12.53.01 pm dxbrgb lnfmj2" /> <figcaption>
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<p>Photo credit Zak Mulligan.</p>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.revolutionhallpdx.com/event/861215-jessica-walsh-make-your-own-portland/"><strong>Jessica Walsh</strong></a><br /><em>Friday at 7:00 pm, Revolution Hall</em><br />Her relationship experiment "40 Days of Dating"&nbsp;was viewed by millions. Two years and one happy ending later, New York designer and <a target="_blank" href="/articles/2015/7/28/after-forty-days-jessica-walsh-on-love-work-and-life-as-a-viral-phenomenon">internet star Jessica Walsh</a> arrives, new book in hand, to Portland.</p>
<h3>FILM</h3>
<p><a target="_blank" href="/events/top-down-film-festival-the-tenth-victim"><strong>Top Down Film Festival: The Tenth Victim</strong></a><br /><em>Thursday at 9 pm, parking structure rooftop at the Hotel deLuxe</em><br /> Decades before Michael Douglas hunted humans in&nbsp;<em>The Game</em>, Ursula Andress, armed with a high-caliber shotgun, chased down Marcello Mastroianni in Elio Petri&rsquo;s 1965 sci-fi flick.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="/events/portland-48-hour-film-project"><strong>Portland 48 Hour Film Project</strong></a><br /><em>Friday&ndash;Sunday, Hollywood Theatre</em><br />How tight will your crew be after pulling together a movie&mdash;from concept to credits&mdash;in just over two days? Each year, genres are picked from a hat on kickoff night, with all films screened for the public (imagine the tweaked-out energy!) that Sunday. This global competition enters its 15th year ready to roll.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>SPECIAL EVENTS</h3>
<figure class="c-align--full c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="47121" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="full" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;Redbull's Flugtag: back in portland after a seven-year hiatus&amp;mdash;with more Winnebagos, we hope? Photo credit: XXX&lt;/p&gt;" data-image-selection="{&quot;x1&quot;:0,&quot;y1&quot;:0,&quot;x2&quot;:864,&quot;y2&quot;:576,&quot;width&quot;:864,&quot;height&quot;:576}"><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_576,w_864,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_1080/v1438280079/redbull2_kfcf0w.jpg" alt="Redbull2 kfcf0w" /> <figcaption>
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<p>Redbull's Flugtag: back in portland after a seven-year hiatus&mdash;with more Winnebagos, we hope? Photo credit: <a href="http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=6054968">Jason&ndash;G</a></p>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.redbull.com/us/en/events/1331709954499/red-bull-flugtag-portland-2015"><strong>Redbull Flugtag</strong></a><br /><em>Saturday at 11 am, Tom McCall Waterfront Park</em><br />A 28-foot flight deck launches you&mdash;and your handbuilt&nbsp;taco, pterodactyl, Winnebago, or what have you&mdash;high above the sparkling Willamette River. (Until you and your craft inevitably succumb to gravity, and take a bath.) Flight distance is just one criteria in this judged competition; showmanship is another, explaining why the quirky annual event draws&nbsp;such massive&nbsp;crowds.</p>
<h3>THEATER</h3>
<figure class="c-align--left c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="47122" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="left" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;Gus Van Sant's grit: could it be gone? Hand2Mouth Theatre's &lt;em&gt;Time, A Fair Hustler&lt;/em&gt;, opens this weekend.&lt;/p&gt;" data-image-selection="{&quot;x1&quot;:0,&quot;y1&quot;:0,&quot;x2&quot;:300,&quot;y2&quot;:300,&quot;width&quot;:300,&quot;height&quot;:300}"><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_300,w_300,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1438280493/time_hustler_j5rqep.jpg" alt="Time hustler j5rqep" /> <figcaption>
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<p>Gus Van Sant's grit: could it be gone? Hand2Mouth Theatre's <em>Time, A Fair Hustler</em>, opens this weekend.</p>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>OPENING</strong> <a target="_blank" href="/events/time-a-fair-hustler"><strong>Time, A Fair Hustler</strong></a><br /><em>Friday&ndash;Sunday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2 pm, Artists Repertory Theatre</em><br />Where among today&rsquo;s condos and food carts would we find the hustlers, thieves, and Rat Kings of Gus Van Sant&rsquo;s 1991 Portland classic&nbsp;<em>My Own Private Idaho</em>? This mixed-media premiere from Hand2Mouth Theatre reconvenes the film&rsquo;s characters to tackle questions of history, nostalgia, and survival.</p>
<p><strong>CLOSING</strong> <a target="_blank" href="/events/the-elixir-of-love"><strong>The Elixir of Love</strong></a><br /><em>Thursday &amp; Saturday at 7:30 pm, Keller Auditorium</em><br />Snake oil, cowpokes, and echoes of&nbsp;<em>Tristan and Isolde</em>: this Wild West version of Gaetano Donizetti&rsquo;s 1832 love story caps the Portland Opera&rsquo;s golden anniversary season with a 10-gallon hat and plenty of bel canto from stars Matthew Grills and Katrina Galka.</p>
<h3>VISUAL ARTS</h3>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://cc.yaleunion.org"><strong>Theory of Achievement</strong></a><br /><em>Saturday &amp; Sunday from 3&ndash;6 pm, Yale Union</em><br />In a <a target="_blank" href="/articles/2015/7/29/pdx-to-cdg-a-portland-gallery-s-paris-exchange-trip">curious gallery swap</a>, three curators from Parisian gallery Castillo/Corales are temporarily occupying&nbsp;this Southeast gallery&mdash;their group show&nbsp;features New York&rsquo;s Jason Simon, Lily van der Stokker, and LA-based Richard Hawkins, who will be giving a&nbsp;talk at the gallery Sunday evening. (Yale Union&rsquo;s executive director and curator, meanwhile, are in the French capital for a&nbsp;simultaneous sister show.)</p>
<h3>WORTH A TRIP</h3>
<p><a target="_blank" href="/events/pickathon"><strong>Pickathon</strong></a><br /><em>Friday&ndash;Sunday, Pendarvis Farm</em><br />Family friendly, no plastic, all pickin&rsquo;&mdash;the 18th annual music fest isn&rsquo;t yet car-free, but its energy is positively solar. Onstage this year are headliners including&nbsp;Tune-Yards, Ty Segall, Leon Bridges, Cloud Nothings, Heartless Bastards, even Tuareg desert blues band Tinariwen. (Get in the mood with <em>Portland Monthly</em>'s <a target="_blank" href="/articles/2015/7/27/your-must-have-pickathon-playlist">ultimate Pickathon playlist</a>.)&nbsp;</p>From prix fixe to Pickathon, Redbull's Flugtag to the very hairy 48 Hour Film Project, the first weekend of August is proof that summer fun in Portland ain't even close to slowing down.From prix fixe to Pickathon, Redbull's Flugtag to the very hairy 48 Hour Film Project, the first weekend of August is proof that summer fun in Portland ain't even close to slowing down.http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_445,w_445,x_261,y_101/c_limit,w_640/redbull2_waubsg.jpgPOMO PICKSRamona DeNiestag:www.portlandmonthlymag.com,2005:Article/126042015-07-20T08:00:00-07:002015-07-20T08:00:00-07:00Folk Star Laura Gibson Scores PHAME's Next Musical<figure class="c-align--center c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46804" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="center" data-image-selection="{&quot;x1&quot;:0,&quot;y1&quot;:0,&quot;x2&quot;:3089,&quot;y2&quot;:2048,&quot;width&quot;:3089,&quot;height&quot;:2048}"><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_2048,w_3089,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_1080/v1436823577/0815-LauraGibson_ParkerFitzgerald_e8spjd.jpg" alt="0815 lauragibson parkerfitzgerald e8spjd" /> <figcaption>
<div class="c-media__attributions mceNonEditable">
<p>Image: <a href="/producers/parker-fitzgerald">Parker Fitzgerald</a></p>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>
<p class="p1">Ord, a character raised in a moonlit realm where myths run amok, must cheer up a dejected carp. (It&rsquo;s that kind of world.) She sings to him that one day he&rsquo;ll become a glorious dragon.</p>
<p class="p1">&ldquo;The message of the song is you may feel like you&rsquo;re small now, but things will get better,&rdquo; says Anne-Marie Plass, a Portland actor with a rare developmental condition called Williams syndrome, of her role as Ord. Plass will act the part this month in <em>Up the Fall</em>,&nbsp;play commissioned by PHAME&mdash;a nonprofit dedicated to creating opportunities for actors with developmental disabilities&mdash;written by Portland playwright Debbie Lamedman with music written by local folk performer Laura Gibson.</p>
<p class="p1">If <em>Up the Fall</em>&rsquo;s August world premiere at Artists Repertory Theatre represents two years of work for PHAME, it is no less notable for Gibson&mdash;not only because it&rsquo;s her very first work of musical theater but also because her early drafts were consumed in a New York City fire that destroyed her apartment building and killed two people. The flames claimed nearly everything she owned, including work on her first new album since 2012. Gibson, who had relocated to New York to study at Hunter College, recouped some of her losses through crowdfunding but had to rewrite much of the music from scratch.</p>
<p class="p1">&ldquo;When something so huge happens, it takes a moment to connect back to what you were working on before,&rdquo; says Gibson, whose prior recordings, like 2009&rsquo;s <em>Beasts of Seasons</em>, focused on empathy and human bonding. &ldquo;Once I got back into the play and the album, it all absolutely seemed connected.&rdquo;</p>
<p class="p1">Indeed, Gibson&rsquo;s challenge finds an echo in the careers of the ambitious actors in <em>Up the Fall</em>. According to PHAME executive director Stephen Marc Beaudoin, Oregon&rsquo;s mainstream theater community has yet to hire a single actor with a developmental disability. Despite much talk about inclusive-ness, skilled actors like Plass are still often considered last, if at all.</p>
<p class="p1">For her part, Plass is busy readying for her star turn&mdash;her seventh role with PHAME&mdash;by practicing Ord&rsquo;s ballad to the talking carp:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Y<em>ou&rsquo;re bound to scale the waterfall</em><br /><em> I know there&rsquo;s so much more for you beyond</em><br /><em> Go on, you strong and silent type,</em><br /><em> Someday, I hope to see you fly</em><br /><em> For already I can see the fire in you</em></p>
</blockquote>The nonprofit celebrating actors with developmental disabilities gets some fresh tunes for their next production, Up the Fall.The nonprofit celebrating actors with developmental disabilities gets some fresh tunes for their next production, Up the Fall.http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_2048,w_2048,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/0815-LauraGibson_ParkerFitzgerald_e8spjd.jpgMUSICAllison Jonestag:www.portlandmonthlymag.com,2005:Article/126312015-07-15T10:00:00-07:002015-07-15T10:00:00-07:00Behind the Scenes with the Funny Man of the Portland Opera<figure class="c-align--center c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46860" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="center" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;Stephen Condy in rehearsals for Portland Opera's &lt;em&gt;The Elixir of Love&lt;/em&gt;. Photo by Jonathan Ley&lt;/p&gt;" data-image-selection='{"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":867,"y2":632,"width":867,"height":632}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_632,w_867,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_1080/v1436978148/Screen_Shot_2015-07-15_at_9.35.21_AM_crz6ph.png" alt="Screen shot 2015 07 15 at 9.35.21 am crz6ph"> <figcaption>
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<p>Stephen Condy in rehearsals for Portland Opera's <em>The Elixir of Love</em>. Photo by Jonathan Ley</p>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>
<p>Dramatic? Sure. Tear-jerking? Probably. But funny? That may not be the adjective at the forefront of your mind when you think of opera. <strong>Yet there are countless roles in countless comedies that make a strong case for the opera funnies.</strong> Stephen Condy, Portland Opera’s longstanding “buffo”—who plays a snake-oil salesman in the upcoming production of <em>The Elixir of Love—</em>talked to us ahead of Friday's opening night about playing the funnyman.</p>
<p><strong>The opera is not something normally associated with belly laughs. Do we need to rethink that impression? </strong></p>
<p>Opera does have a stereotyped reputation—the idea that somebody always dies at the end. But comedy in opera has ben around since the late 17<sup>th</sup> century. Of the top five most popular operas now, three of them are comedies. So I think we get very stuck into the stereotypes and the spears, the Viking helmets and shields and women singing with breastplates, and we forget that there’s actually a wider range of stories.</p>
<p> <strong>So what’s so funny about <em>The Elixir of Love</em>?</strong></p>
<p>The comedy comes in the story of this traveling salesman that comes to town. He’s the equivalent of the snake oil salesman, and in our production, which is set in the wild West, he literally is the snake oil salesman. The humor comes in the text, in how the people of the town really buy into this. And it comes in how they react to this ‘Elixir of Love’ he peddles, which is nothing more than a cheap Bordeaux wine. The hero Nemorino thinks it’s working on him when he’s just getting drunk. It’s situation comedy and we play it to get the laugh. There are some very poignant and touching moments in <em>The Elixir of Love</em> and very real characters, which I think makes the tragedy much more poignant, and the comedy much more funny.</p>
<p><strong>Does the language barrier at the opera provide a challenge to comic timing?</strong></p>
<p>The thing that has changed for the opera world, and has made it much more accessible, is the institution of the supertitle translations. And with the theatrical portion of it, even if you’re not watching the text, you’re able as an actor to tell a story without someone necessarily understanding the words. In a serious opera—the stereotypical Wagner opera—they’re saying something very serious, very long, and they’re standing in one place singing at someone, and you’ve no idea what they’re doing because they’re not moving. But when we’re doing a comedy we’ve a lot more license to move around—there’s the theatrical element. There’s also the musical element: Donizetti, who wrote <em>The Elixir of Love</em>, wrote music that expressed the emotion, so when it’s serious there’s a pretty melody and it’s slow, and when there’s a lot of comedy going on, the music is bubbly, it’s light.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"Bugs Bunny was my first introduction to opera."</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>The Italian comic operas often employ the “bassa buffo” character, who is usually at the center of the comic action. You’ve often played these roles—what’s their appeal?</strong></p>
<p>That’s just the personality that I’ve been given. I was always the funny guy. As a singer, we’re always trying to sing beautifully, and touch people’s hearts and sing in the operatic tradition, and there was a very serious aria we were singing in a performance situation once, and while I was singing there were people giggling in the audience. And I wasn’t trying to be funny! At that moment I realized ‘I think my strength is more in being funny.’</p>
<p> This particular category, the “buffo” style”, is known for patter, so you have to be able to sing very fast, a lot of different words have to fly off the tongue. That’s part of the skill I was able to develop.</p>
<p><strong>Do you have any comic inspirations outside of the opera?</strong></p>
<p>I grew up on the Warner Brothers cartoons, so like many people Bugs Bunny was my first introduction to opera. ‘What’s Opera Doc?’ and ‘The Rabbit of Seville’, the cartoon comedies, with things that you can’t do in real life. Like when Wiley Coyote steps off the cliff and doesn’t fall for thirty seconds—those kinds of things. Today there are a lot of good comedians. Like Seinfeld, a story about nothing which is the humor that I have always gravitated towards.</p>
<p> <strong>Does it ever fall flat?</strong></p>
<p>Absolutely! It depends on the night, it depends on the audience. What you don’t want to do is try to overplay it, or try too hard to be funny. When someone is trying to be funny it’s very awkward and nobody laughs. Then it becomes tragedy, and there’s the line between comedy and tragedy.</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><strong>Portland Opera's <em>The Elixir of Love</em> opens on July 17 at the Newmark Theatre, and runs through August 1. <br></strong><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.portlandopera.org/production/the-elixir-of-love/">More information here. </a></strong></p>Stephen Condy talks Seinfeld and snake oil, and why opera doesn’t have to be a serious business.
Stephen Condy talks Seinfeld and snake oil, and why opera doesn’t have to be a serious business.
http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_632,w_632,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/Screen_Shot_2015-07-15_at_9.35.21_AM_crz6ph.pngOPERAFiona McCanntag:www.portlandmonthlymag.com,2005:Article/125492015-07-07T11:35:00-07:002015-07-07T11:35:00-07:00Everything You Need to Know About the Risk/Reward Festival<figure class="c-align--center c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46669" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="center" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;Dani Tirrell. Photo by John Pai&lt;/p&gt;" data-image-selection='{"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":1062,"y2":630,"width":1062,"height":630}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_630,w_1062,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_1080/v1436290792/Screen_Shot_2015-07-07_at_10.38.11_AM_m7ejti.png" alt="Screen shot 2015 07 07 at 10.38.11 am m7ejti"> <figcaption>
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<p>Dani Tirrell. Photo by John Pai</p>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>
<p>Maybe you caught the picture of a line of naked butts we ran in our print magazine this month. (If not, see below). Or maybe you’ve heard whispers of some offbeat performance festival hitting PDX this hot weekend. <strong>But you still have questions: what’s it all about? What should I expect? And why the naked bottoms?</strong> We’re here to answer at least some of your questions about the two-week Risk/Reward festival—and possibly leave you with more. </p>
<p><strong>What is Risk/Reward? <br></strong>It’s an annual performance arts festival, now in its eighth year. This year, eight artists or performing groups were selected to create eight brand new pieces of performance art, each to clock in at under 20 minutes. </p>
<p><strong>What should I expect?<br></strong>This year Risk/Reward kicks off with Markeith Wiley’s <em>31 &amp; Counting</em>, a dance performance about the experience of a black man in today’s America. There's also Faith Helma’s <em>I hate positive thinking</em>, which explores the self-help industry and the power of the mind through some madcap performance that includes “semi-coherent ranting.” Meanwhile, Nancy Ellis brings her comic and emotional personal story to stage through dance and theater, while Eowyn Emerald &amp; Dancers explore human relationships to dance duets. And that’s all just THIS weekend.</p>
<p>If that all feels like your jam, you should know that next weekend features “a semi-patriotic, gender non-conforming Butch Queen” (Dani Tirrell), some feminist comedy improv about Springfield, Missouri (Katie Piatt), a performance piece where street art meets a dystopian future (Tim Smith-Stewart), and, from Jessica Jobaris, “a Shangri-La chamber play.”</p>
<p><strong>Sounds interesting but how much will it set me back?<br></strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.risk-reward.org">Tickets to Risk/Reward</a> shows are $14-18 advance, $20 at the door, or $30 for both weekends.</p>
<p><strong>Fine, I'm sold. When? Where? What are the details?<br></strong>Risk/Reward kicks off this Friday, July 10 at the Artists Repertory Theatre. Performances take place at 7:30 pm on Friday and Saturday, and 5 pm on Sunday, July 12. The festival’s second half takes place from July 17–19, with performances at 7:30 pm on Friday and Saturday, and 5 pm on Sunday.</p>
<p><strong>What's this about naked butts? <br></strong>Ask and you shall receive . . . </p>
<figure class="c-align--center c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46668" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="center" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;Jessica Jobaris's A Great Hunger. Photo courtesy Tim Summers&lt;/p&gt;" data-image-selection='{"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":680,"y2":572,"width":680,"height":572}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_572,w_680,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_1080/v1436290430/Screen_Shot_2015-07-07_at_10.33.35_AM_rtckpo.png" alt="Screen shot 2015 07 07 at 10.33.35 am rtckpo"> <figcaption>
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<p>Jessica Jobaris's A Great Hunger. Photo courtesy Tim Summers</p>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>A chamber play, a “Butch Queen,” an attack on the self-help industry, and a line of naked butts? You may be wondering what in the world the Risk/Reward Festival is all about, so we've put together a quick primer for you.
A chamber play, a “Butch Queen,” an attack on the self-help industry, and a line of naked butts? You may be wondering what in the world the Risk/Reward Festival is all about, so we've put together a quick primer for you.
http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_630,w_630,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/Screen_Shot_2015-07-07_at_10.38.11_AM_m7ejti.pngDANCE / THEATERFiona McCanntag:www.portlandmonthlymag.com,2005:Article/125382015-07-01T16:00:00-07:002015-07-01T16:00:00-07:00Top Things to Do This Weekend: July 2–5<figure class="c-align--right c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46630" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="right" data-image-caption="Cracked out on cellos with PCP: Thursday at Ecotrust. Photo credit: Tarina Westlund." data-image-selection='{"width":900,"height":762,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":900,"y2":762}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_762,w_900,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1435788744/9_Tarina_Westlund_PCP_zbbbqv.jpg"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Cracked out on cellos with PCP: Thursday at Ecotrust. Photo credit: Tarina Westlund.</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p class="section_title">MUSIC</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ecotrust.org/project/sundown/"><strong>Portland Cello Project</strong></a><br><em>Thursday at 5:30 pm, Ecotrust</em><br><span>Ecotrust's Sundown concert series kicks off with a free outdoor show featuring the city's most rockingest string outfit. PCP is known as much for <strong>throwing Kayne into the acoustic mix</strong> as for partnering with the likes of Howe Gelb (and Garrison Keillor).</span> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.roselandpdx.com/2015/03/150702-tyler-the-creator/"><strong>Tyler the Creator</strong></a><br><em>Thursday at 8 pm, Roseland Theater</em><br>Baby-faced rapper Tyler Gregory Okonma gets a lot of negative attention: for cursing out model Kendall Jenner at Coachella; for his infamous goat commercials on behalf of soda maker Mountain Dew. (Hey, at least he’s got Frank Ocean’s back.) At 24, <strong>he’s got time on his side—and now, mature musicians like Roy Ayers and Leon Ware in his court</strong>, contributing to new album <em>Cherry Bomb. </em></p>
<figure class="c-align--left c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46634" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="left" data-image-caption="Buddy Guy." data-image-selection='{"width":564,"height":337,"x1":41,"y1":0,"x2":605,"y2":337}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_337,w_564,x_41,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1435789561/BuddyGuy624jpg_rolukf.jpg"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Buddy Guy.</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p><a href="http://www.waterfrontbluesfest.com/"><strong>Waterfront Blues Festival</strong></a><br><em>Thursday–Sunday from 11 am to 10 pm, Tom McCall Waterfront Park</em><br>Launched nearly 30 years ago, the Cascade Blues Association’s multiday charitable croonfest has raised more that $10 million for the Oregon Food Bank. Talk about call and response! <strong>Heavy-hitting headliners this year</strong> include Buddy Guy, Stone Foxes, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, Jelly Bread, Galactic, and Macy Gray—all keeping it real on the sun-splashed banks of the Willamette.</p>
<p class="section_title">FILM</p>
<figure class="c-align--center c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46636" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="center" data-image-caption="Let me guide to the purple rain..." data-image-selection='{"width":800,"height":378,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":800,"y2":378}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_378,w_800,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_1080/v1435790549/primary_purple-rain-bike_fqhzfo.png"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Let me guide to the purple rain...</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p><a href="http://hollywoodtheatre.org/rock-opera-series/"><strong>Rock Opera: Purple Rain</strong></a><br><em>Thursday at 7:30 pm, Friday at 9:30 pm, Hollywood Theatre</em><br><strong>The most amazing Minnesota melodrama of all time</strong> kicks of the Hollywood's month-long Rock Opera series. What is the only thing that can upstage Prince's epic glam rock? The Artist himself: bedecked in lace, straddling a CB400A Hondamatic with custom hot pink velour inserts, and lusting after actress Apollonia Kotero in this 1984 cult classic.</p>
<figure class="c-align--left c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46637" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="left" data-image-caption='Michael Kerrigan and Samantha Van Der Merwe are "Subversive. Carnal. Improvisational." And at CoHo this weekend.' data-image-selection='{"width":300,"height":200,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":300,"y2":200}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_200,w_300,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1435790671/kerrigan_flea-4-300x200_gwx2nt.jpg"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Michael Kerrigan and Samantha Van Der Merwe are "Subversive. Carnal. Improvisational." And at CoHo this weekend.</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p class="section_title">THEATER</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cohoproductions.org/box-office/announcing-summerfest-2015-lineup"><strong>The Dissenter's Handbook</strong></a><br><em>Thursday, Friday, and Sunday at 7:30 pm, CoHo Theatre </em><br><span>For weekend four of CoHo's annual Summerfest, Shaking the Tree Theater Director Samantha Van Der Merwe directs Michael Kerrigan in </span><em>The Dissenter’s Handbook: A Collection of Riotous Tales</em><span>—a series of "<strong>commedia dell'arte style" political jibes</strong> from Nobel Prize–winning Italian folklorist Dario Fo, master of “illegitimate” theater.</span> </p>
<p class="section_title">VISUAL ARTS</p>
<p><span class="red-bkgd">OPENING</span> <a href="http://portlandmuseumofmodernart.com/Liz-Harris-July-2015"><strong>Liz Harris: Idea of a Door</strong></a><br><em>Friday–Sunday from noon to 7 pm, Portland Museum of Modern Art</em><br>Harris (well-known as <strong>the solo member of ambient dream-pop act Grouper</strong>) crafts dense, intricate black-and-white ink compositions, her almost-but-not-quite geometric patterns and shapes offering a quavering, organic take on Sol Lewitt’s sharp forms. </p>
<p><span class="red-bkgd">OPENING</span> <a href="http://gallery903.com/happenings-2/lovingonesfate/"><strong>Korey Gulbrandson: Amor Fati</strong></a><br><em>Thursday–Saturday from 10 am to 5:30 pm, Sunday from noon to 5 pm, Gallery 903 </em><br>In a style sometimes referred to as “sculptural painting,” Portland-born Gulbrandson creates textured mixed-media compositions that <strong>refuse to stick to two dimensions</strong>. Flecks of reds and gold add [ornamentation] to his mostly gray canvasses, whose gloomy, bombed-out forms lend a dark twist to the show’s Latin title: “Loving One’s Fate.”</p>
<figure class="c-align--center c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46638" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="center" data-image-caption="Terrace, Garden City, Cairo. 2010. By Paris Petridis. Courtesy Blue Sky Gallery." data-image-selection='{"width":640,"height":512,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":640,"y2":512}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_512,w_640,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_1080/v1435790868/BLUESKY_utifxk_wwd78g.jpg"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Terrace, Garden City, Cairo. 2010. By Paris Petridis. Courtesy Blue Sky Gallery.</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p><span class="red-bkgd">OPENING</span> <a href="http://www.blueskygallery.org/"><strong>Paris Petridis and Mila Teshaieva</strong></a><br><em>Thursday–Sunday from noon to 5 pm, Blue Sky Gallery</em><br><span>For “The Void and the Country,” Greek-born Petridis shoots startling urban <strong>Egyptian landscapes devoid of people</strong>: a Nike swoop between scarred apartments, satellite dishes on trashed rooftops. Teshaieva spent years exploring the Caspian Sea for “Promising Waters” (also an award-winning 2013 monograph). </span> </p>
This weekend, we only want to see you in the Purple Rain. Ok, not true—let's also meet up at First Thursday, the Waterfront Blues Fest, and the Portland Cello Project's (free!) outdoor show.This weekend, we only want to see you in the Purple Rain. Ok, not true—let's also meet up at First Thursday, the Waterfront Blues Fest, and the Portland Cello Project's (free!) outdoor show.http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_380,w_380,x_338,y_0/c_limit,w_640/primary_purple-rain-bike_ofqfdk.pngPOMO PICKSRamona DeNiestag:www.portlandmonthlymag.com,2005:Article/125312015-07-01T08:00:00-07:002015-07-01T08:00:00-07:0020 Absolutely FREE Things to Do in PDX This Summer<p>From rock shows to opera to open-air movies, summer in Portland is all about getting out there, enjoying the sun, soaking up fun, and...not spending a dime? That’s right! Save your pennies for that <em>prix fixe</em> at Holdfast or a last-minute flight to Kauai come December; we keep you royally entertained through Labor Day, all for the low, low price of absolutely nothing (except sunscreen?). </p>
<h2><a href="http://www.opsfest.org/">1. Original Practice Shakespeare Festival</a></h2>
<p><strong>Thru 8/23</strong>—OPS is known to get a little fresh with the Bard. In city parks across town, catch classics like The Comedie of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Some shows are all-male, some all-female, and some definitely not suitable for kiddies.</p>
<figure class="c-align--right c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46602" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="right" data-image-caption="Getting cheffy at the market! Photo credit: Portland Farmers Market." data-image-selection='{"width":650,"height":530,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":650,"y2":530}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_530,w_650,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1435701510/final-650x530_nxuy8r.jpg" alt=""><figcaption class="mceNonEditable">
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<p>Getting cheffy at the market! Photo credit: Portland Farmers Market.</p>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>
<h2><a href="http://www.portlandfarmersmarket.org/programs-events/chef-in-the-market/">2. Chef in the Market</a></h2>
<p><strong>Thru 10/31</strong>—Cooking for you each Saturday morning at the Portland State University Farmer’s Market: culinary masters like Nostrana’s Cathy Whims, the Bent Brick’s Ryan Mead, and Earl Mnsom of Paa Dee. The pièce de resistance? After each class, a free tasting!</p>
<h2><a href="http://www.ecotrust.org/project/sundown/">3. Sundown at Ecotrust</a></h2>
<p>Free First Thursday concerts, from 5:30–8 pm, outside Ecotrust’s Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center in Portland's Pearl District. </p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>7/2</strong>—Portland Cello Project</li>
<li>
<strong>8/6</strong>—Orquestra Pacifico Tropical and Mimicking Birds</li>
<li>
<strong>9/3</strong>—Horse Feathers and School of Rock</li>
</ul>
<figure class="c-align--center c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46603" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="center" data-image-caption="Summer Free for All at Centennial Park. Photo credit: Adam Sawyer." data-image-selection='{"scaling-type":"in-proportion","fill-color":"#000000","height":745,"width":993,"scale":"100","x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":993,"y2":745}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_745,w_993,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_1080/v1435702119/P7170772_khtrc4_kahgd6.jpg" alt=""><figcaption class="mceNonEditable">
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<p>Summer Free for All at Centennial Park. Photo credit: Adam Sawyer.</p>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>
<h2><a href="http://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/61921">4. Summer Free for All: Concerts in the Park</a></h2>
<p>Pick any evening this summer; there’s likely to be a free concert at a park near you. Select shows below—visit the series website for the full schedule. All shows at 6:30 pm. </p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>7/7</strong>—Freak Mountain Ramblers, Mt Tabor Park</li>
<li>
<strong>7/13</strong>—Ural Thomas and the Pain, Sellwood Riverfront Park</li>
<li>
<strong>7/15</strong>—The Stolen Sweets, Willamette Park</li>
<li>
<strong>7/29</strong>—Pilon D’Azucar Band, Dawson Park</li>
<li>
<strong>8/4</strong>—Chata Addy, Fernhill Park</li>
<li>
<strong>8/6</strong>—The Wanderlust Orchestra, Couch Park</li>
<li>
<strong>8/12</strong>—Pete Krebs and the Earnest Lovers, Ventura Park</li>
<li>
<strong>8/14</strong>—Curtis Salgado, Lovejoy Fountain Park</li>
</ul>
<figure class="c-align--right c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46604" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="right" data-image-caption="Get feisty with PAE's &lt;i&gt;The Taming of the Shrew&lt;/i&gt;. Photo credit: Gary Norman." data-image-selection='{"width":576,"height":384,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":576,"y2":384}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_384,w_576,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1435702354/Shrew_2015_web_1_rn5fbh.jpg" alt=""><figcaption class="mceNonEditable">
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<p>Get feisty with PAE's <em>The Taming of the Shrew</em>. Photo credit: Gary Norman.</p>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>
<h2><a href="http://www.portlandactors.com/events/categories/summer-2015/">5. Shakespeare in the Park</a></h2>
<p>Bust out your picnic blanket for the Portland Actors Ensemble’s summer-long alfresco runs of Macbeth and The Taming of the Shrew.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>7/2–9/7</strong>—PAE’s itinerant 46th season spans locations like wineries, the Concordia and Reed campuses, and Laurelhurst Park.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://mississippiave.com/streetfair/">6. Mississippi Street Fair</a></h2>
<p><strong>7/11</strong>—The world’s slowest moving parade (some might say) crawls up and down this vendor and performer-thronged street. Bring sunscreen, and a wide-open afternoon.</p>
<h2><a href="http://www.portlandopera.org/event/1932/">7. Portland Opera: The Elixir of Love</a></h2>
<p><strong>7/12</strong>—Free afternoon preview of this Wild West version of Gaetano Donizetti’s 1832 love story (at the Central Library, no less).</p>
<figure class="c-align--center c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46605" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="center" data-image-caption="" data-image-selection='{"scaling-type":"in-proportion","fill-color":"#000000","height":289,"width":704,"scale":"100","x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":704,"y2":289}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_289,w_704,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_1080/v1435702553/WS-Banner-2015-Summer-Readings_vbaooc.jpg" alt=""></figure>
<h2><a href="http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/workshop">8. Tin House: Summer Readings</a></h2>
<p>Each summer, the literary quarterly draws big talent to Reed College to lead an exclusive writer’s workshop. Evening readings, however, are free and open to the public. Word!</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>7/12–18</strong>—Among the top draws, in order of appearance: Dorothy Allison, David Shields, Charles D’Ambrosio, Jenny Offill, Karen Russell, Maggie Nelson, and Tony Hoagland.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://portlandshakes.org/proscenium-live-at-artists-repertory-theatre/">9. Proscenium Live: Festival of New Work</a></h2>
<p>Artists Rep hosts free staged readings of new works recently published by contemporary theater journal Proscenium Live.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>7/14</strong>—Pericles Wet: a commissioned adaptation of Pericles from Pacific University Theatre and Dance Chair Ellen Margolis</li>
<li>
<strong>7/19</strong>—An Evening of Original One-Acts: directed by Paul Angelo and Steve Rathje</li>
<li>
<strong>7/20</strong>—The Widow of Tom’s Hill: by Portland-based playwright Aleks Merilo</li>
</ul>
<figure class="c-align--right c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46606" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="right" data-image-caption="At the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival: Hailey Niswanger (and her PDX Soul). Photo credit: Hailey Niswanger" data-image-selection='{"width":500,"height":482,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":500,"y2":482}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_482,w_500,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1435703291/1427554071603_ixgihg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption class="mceNonEditable">
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<p>At the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival: Hailey Niswanger (and her PDX Soul). Photo credit: Hailey Niswanger</p>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>
<h2><a href="http://www.cpjazz.com/?page_id=2699">10. Cathedral Park Jazz Festival</a></h2>
<p><strong>7/17–19</strong>—Among the smooth draws in the shadow of the St. John’s Bridge: Kung Pao Chickens, Hailey Niswanger’s PDX Soul, and the Paul Creighton Project.</p>
<h2><a href="http://pdxpopnow.com/">11. PDX Pop Now!</a></h2>
<p>For three days, effervescent local pop lurks under the Hawthorne Bridge. The 12th annual all-ages music festival also boasts a record fair and band-on-band b-ball tourney “Rigsketball.”</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>7/24–26</strong>—Acts include the Blue Cranes, Cool Nutz, Lower 48, Nurses, Talkative, the Domestics, and White Glove</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://thesquarepdx.org/flicks-on-the-bricks/">12. Flicks on the Bricks</a></h2>
<p>Get your Friday-night evening movie fix for free this summer in Portland’s Living Room.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>7/24</strong>—Raiders of the Lost Ark</li>
<li>
<strong>7/31</strong>—The Lego Movie</li>
<li>
<strong>8/7</strong>—Grease Sing-A-Long</li>
<li>
<strong>8/14</strong>—The Breakfast Club</li>
<li>
<strong>8/21</strong>—Mrs. Doubtfire</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://www.portlandfestivalsymphony.org/schedule.html">13. Portland Festival Symphony Concerts</a></h2>
<figure class="c-align--right c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46611" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="right" data-image-caption="Director Lajos Balogh. Photo Credit: Portland Festival Symphony. " data-image-selection='{"width":293,"height":442,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":293,"y2":442}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_442,w_293,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1435703721/Lajos_at_Cathedral_Park_nkxmbq.jpg" alt=""><figcaption class="mceNonEditable">
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<p>Director Lajos Balogh. Photo Credit: Portland Festival Symphony.</p>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>
<p>Directed by Lajos Balogh, these free classical concerts—think Beethoven, Mozart, Dvorák—start at 6 pm, alfresco!</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>7/25</strong>—Cathedral Park</li>
<li>
<strong>8/1</strong>—Laurelhurst Park</li>
<li>
<strong>8/2</strong>—Peninsula Park</li>
<li>
<strong>8/8</strong>—U. S. Grant Park</li>
<li>
<strong>8/9</strong>—Washington Park</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/58929">14. Sunday Parkways</a></h2>
<p>Few free events are more neighborly than these slow-pedaling park-to-park treks through temporarily car-free streets. At each stop, food vendors, live music, and other easy afternoon attractions.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>7/26</strong>—Northeast Portland</li>
<li>
<strong>8/23</strong>—Southeast Portland</li>
<li>
<strong>9/27</strong>—Tilikum Crossing/Sellwood</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://www.polarisdance.org/galaxyfestival/">15. Polaris Dance: Galaxy Festival</a></h2>
<p><strong>8/6–8</strong>—Director Park is the stage for dozens of dance and fitness companies; we’re talking ballet and improv, hip-hop and ballroom, belly-dancing and folk styles from around the world.</p>
<h2><a href="http://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/article/489145">16. Washington Park Summer Festival</a></h2>
<p>Parklandia in the West Hills! All Washington Park concerts are free and at 6 pm.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>8/7</strong>—Brass Ops: 234th Army Band, Oregon National Guard</li>
<li>
<strong>8/8</strong>—Opera in the Park</li>
<li>
<strong>8/9</strong>—Portland Festival Symphony</li>
<li>
<strong>8/10</strong>—Reggie Houston’s Crescent City Connection</li>
<li>
<strong>8/11</strong>—Johnny Limbo and the Lugnuts</li>
<li>
<strong>8/12</strong>—The Many Colors of Edna Vazquez</li>
<li>
<strong>8/13</strong>—Tizer Quartet</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://albertamainst.org/whats-happening/street-fair/">17. Alberta Street Fair</a></h2>
<p><strong>8/8</strong>—It's like a mini city of boho chic, with over 20,000 pedestrians milling the length of one of Portland's most dynamic streets. 300 vendors plus three music stages and two beer gardens? That equals a fine Saturday afternoon, by our calculations.</p>
<figure class="c-align--right c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46612" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="right" data-image-caption="People eater! Photo credit: PDX Adult Soapbox Derby." data-image-selection='{"width":685,"height":669,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":685,"y2":669}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_669,w_685,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1435704613/8562489739_5dc2b08e93_b_adkwal.jpg" alt=""><figcaption class="mceNonEditable">
<div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable">
<p>People eater! Photo credit: PDX Adult Soapbox Derby.</p>
</div>
</figcaption></figure>
<h2><a href="http://www.soapboxracer.com/">18. Adult Soapbox Derby</a></h2>
<p><strong>8/1</strong>5—Otherwise sane individuals hurling themselves down the winding roads of Mt Tabor in garage-crafted vehicles? Sign us up (to watch at safe remove, that is)!</p>
<h2><a href="http://submissionpdx.org/">19. Submission Reading Series</a></h2>
<p><strong>8/29</strong>—Poet Elaine Kahn and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot author David Shafer read at the series launch event in May. Next up? We’ll see—the editors welcome blind submissions in multiple genres.</p>
<h2><a href="http://www.artinthepearl.com/festival-information/general-info/">20. Art in the Pearl</a></h2>
<p><strong>9/5–7</strong>—100-plus artists set up shop along the North Park blocks for this 19th annual outdoor showcase of fine photography, ceramics, glass art, jewelry, and more.</p>
We keep you entertained through Labor Day, all without leaving the city—or spending a cent.We keep you entertained through Labor Day, all without leaving the city—or spending a cent.http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_580,w_580,x_790,y_0/c_limit,w_640/RS1550_IMG_1876_HDR_2-Edit1-1600x580_aupyqc.jpgFree GuideRamona DeNiestag:www.portlandmonthlymag.com,2005:Article/125172015-06-25T11:00:00-07:002015-06-25T11:00:00-07:00Top Things to Do This Weekend: June 25–28<figure class="c-align--center c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46552" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="center" data-image-caption="" data-image-selection='{"scaling-type":"in-proportion","fill-color":"#000000","height":374,"width":640,"scale":"100","x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":640,"y2":374}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_374,w_640,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_1080/v1435252646/Screen_Shot_2015-06-23_at_12.35.51_PM_hhmqid_d86ubq.png"></figure>
<p><strong style="color: #36678c; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 26px; text-transform: uppercase;">COMEDY</strong></p>
<figure class="c-align--right c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46582" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="right" data-image-caption='Jen Kirkman: "If you like Louis CK," says &lt;i&gt;Entertainment Weekly&lt;/i&gt;. Uh, yeah, we do! And also this lady. Photo credit: Jen Kirkman.' data-image-selection='{"width":300,"height":400,"x1":0,"y1":50,"x2":300,"y2":450}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_400,w_300,x_0,y_50/c_limit,w_640/v1435263030/only-approved-photo_lokdp8.jpg"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Jen Kirkman: "If you like Louis CK," says <i>Entertainment Weekly</i>. Uh, yeah, we do! And also this lady. Photo credit: Jen Kirkman.</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p><strong><a href="http://hollywoodtheatre.org/jen-kirkman-im-gonna-die-alone-and-i-feel-fine/">Jen Kirkman<br></a></strong><em>Saturday at 7 pm, Hollywood Theatre</em><br>A veteran (she'd appreciate the ageist overtones) of <em>Chelsea Lately</em>, Comedy Central's <em>@midnight</em>, and <em>Drunk History</em>, Kirkman brings us the tour behind her new Netflix comedy special "I'm Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine)." Local funny lady Bri Pruett opens.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/eddie-izzard-june-2015"><strong>Eddie Izzard</strong></a><br><em>Sunday at 8 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall</em><br><em>Force Majeure</em>—the name of Izzard’s current world tour—certainly applies to this cross-dressing, impossibly fabulous comic virtuoso. And not just because of the immense fame the Emmy-winning English monologist now enjoys; the 25-country tour is his biggest yet.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/michael-malone-june-2015"><strong>Michael Malone</strong></a><br><em>Thursday–Saturday at 7:30 pm, Friday &amp; Saturday at 10 pm, Harvey's Comedy Club</em><br>Birth, aging, death—what could be funnier? In his new comedy album <em>Thirty One</em>, the charismatic Malone brings his elastic imagination (and face) to the more ludicrous ways we cope with our universal march to the grave. </p>
<figure class="c-align--left c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46556" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="left" data-image-caption="" data-image-selection='{"width":616,"height":374,"x1":4,"y1":12,"x2":620,"y2":386}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_374,w_616,x_4,y_12/c_limit,w_640/v1435253268/Willie-Nelson-and-Alison-Krauss_vfno9k.jpg"></figure>
<p><strong style="color: #36678c; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 26px; text-transform: uppercase;">MUSIC</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/willie-nelson-with-alison-krauss-june-2015"><strong>Willie Nelson with Alison Krauss</strong></a><br><em>Friday at 6:30 pm, Edgefield</em><br><span>Last year, </span><em>Rolling Stone</em><span> wrote “all roads lead to Willie.” The 82-year-old country legend joins platinum-certified songbird Krauss for the Edgefield concert of the season. From Nelson’s “Whisky River” to Krauss’s “Paper Airplane,” it’s pure, all-American honey on the lawn, y’all. </span> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/quiet-music-fest-june-2015"><strong>Quiet Music Festival</strong></a><br><em>Friday &amp; Saturday at 7 pm, Disjecta Contemporary Art Center</em><br><span>Transforming Disjecta, for the fifth time, into a “tranquil cave of sonic serenity,” Chris Johanson’s 2015 sleeper brings out the softest side of musicians like Stephen Malkmus, Irma Vep, and Rebecca Gates of the Spinanes. Sponsored by anti-trendy apparel line RVCA, this revolution will not be amplified.</span> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/cmnw-summer-festival-piazzolla-and-after-june-2015"><strong>CMNW Summer Festival: Piazzolla and After</strong></a><br><em>Sunday at 7 pm, Kaul Auditorium </em><br><span>Chamber Music NW's 45th annual string-off is billed as the region's most ambitious chamber music festival. In Sunday's<span> performance, eight musicians from Buenos Aires trace the passionate dance of Argentinian tango from streets to symphony halls.</span></span></p>
<figure class="c-align--right c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46561" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="right" data-image-caption="Death to bike thieves! Photo credit: Sarah Mirk." data-image-selection='{"width":1794,"height":1365,"x1":254,"y1":0,"x2":2048,"y2":1365}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_1365,w_1794,x_254,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1435254525/7385030900_98fc4ebc07_k_qfrwyy.jpg"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Death to bike thieves! Photo credit: Sarah Mirk.</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p class="section_title"><strong>SPECIAL EVENTS</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://pdxwnbr.org/">World Naked Bike Ride<br></a></strong><em>Saturday at dusk, departing from Colonel Summers Park<br></em>Bust out that birthday suit: Portland's infamous annual show-stopping bits-flaunting bike ride is this weekend! 10,000 riders joined last year's route, which wound through NE Portland's Concordia neighborhood. This year, it's Buckman that enjoys an eyeful of extreme body-positivity.</p>
<p class="section_title">BOOKS &amp; TALKS </p>
<p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/lithoppdx-june-2015"><strong>LitHopPDX</strong></a><br><em>Thursday at 7 pm, Old Town</em><br><span>Booze and books have been bedfellows since the birth of the printed page. (Gutenberg just hacked a wine press, after all.) Portland is awash with both at this annual barhopping blitz: six venues, six hosts, three hours, 54 readers, and as many drinks as you can manage without slurring your Tom Spanbauer. Various locations: check event site for details.</span> </p>
<figure class="c-align--left c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46560" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="left" data-image-caption="&lt;i&gt;Loon&lt;/i&gt; at Coho Summerfest this weekend: mime, masks, magic! Photo credit: the Wonderheads." data-image-selection='{"width":409,"height":358,"x1":63,"y1":28,"x2":472,"y2":386}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_358,w_409,x_63,y_28/c_limit,w_640/v1435254350/wonderheadsmasks-580x386_m3d9zr.jpg"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p><i>Loon</i> at Coho Summerfest this weekend: mime, masks, magic! Photo credit: the Wonderheads.</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p class="section_title"><strong>THEATER</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/loon-june-2015"><strong>Loon</strong></a><br><em>Thursday–Sunday at 7:30 pm, CoHo Theatre</em><br><span>Puppets, mimes, and masks: physical theater comany the Wonderheads enliven this silent show—part of CoHo Theatre's six-week Summerfest—with a “most peculiar love story.”</span> </p>
<p class="section_title">VISUAL ARTS</p>
<p><span class="red-bkgd">CLOSING</span> <a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/gordon-parks-and-samer-mohdad-june-2015"><strong>Gordon Parks and Samer Mohdad</strong></a><br><em>Thursday–Saturday from noon to 5 pm, Blue Sky Gallery</em><br><span>Parks may be best known today for helping to launch the blaxploitation genre with his </span><em>Shaft </em><span>films, but just as important was his photographic work, like this series of saturated 1956 color photographs, for </span><em>Life </em><span>magazine, of an Alabama family struggling with segregation. Lebanese photojournalist Mohdad’s richly textured black-and-white images capture an often-undocumented world—modern Arab life from Gaza to Algeria. </span> </p>
<p class="section_title">DANCE</p>
<figure class="c-align--right c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46564" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="right" data-image-caption="Photo credit: Northwest Dance Project" data-image-selection='{"width":800,"height":588,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":800,"y2":588}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_588,w_800,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1435255875/00003517938881_vcsqve.jpg"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Photo credit: Northwest Dance Project</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/northwest-dance-project-summer-splendors-june-2015"><strong>Northwest Dance Project: Summer Splendors</strong></a><br><em>Friday &amp; Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 4 pm, Lincoln Hall</em> <br><span>NWDP’s annual vernal celebration partners with Chamber Music Northwest for dance world premieres from four very different choreographers. NWDP founding artistic director Sarah Slipper joins Lucas Crandall, Rachel Erdos, and Tracey Durbin in “linked” performances backed by chamber musicians (including stellar Korean pianist Yekwon Sunwoo) playing Chopin’s complete Preludes. </span> </p>
<p> </p>Eddie Izzard. Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss. The World Naked Bike Ride and Astor Piazzolla's fiery tango. Pretty much, this is the summer weekend to get loud (Quiet Music Festival excepted—shh!)Eddie Izzard. Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss. The World Naked Bike Ride and Astor Piazzolla's fiery tango. Pretty much, this is the summer weekend to get loud (Quiet Music Festival excepted—shh!)http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_1066,w_1066,x_267,y_0/c_limit,w_640/7385030900_98fc4ebc07_k_qfrwyy.jpgPOMO PICKSRamona DeNiestag:www.portlandmonthlymag.com,2005:Article/124912015-06-18T13:03:00-07:002015-06-18T13:03:00-07:00Top Things to Do This Weekend: June 18–21<figure class="c-align--right c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46365" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="right" data-image-caption="Australia's princess of pop: at the Doug Fir this Friday. Phone credit: Kirstin Burns." data-image-selection='{"width":2000,"height":2889,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":2000,"y2":2889}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_2889,w_2000,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1434653661/Promo_4_High_Res_Jpeg_Kirstin_Burns_g2o6t4.jpg"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Australia's princess of pop: at the Doug Fir this Friday. Phone credit: Kirstin Burns.</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p class="section_title">MUSIC</p>
<p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/lenka-june-2015"><strong>Lenka</strong></a><br><em>Friday at 8 pm, Doug Fir Lounge</em><br>The Australia native—who trained in acting with Cate Blanchett before starting as a singer—is known for soft, mesmerizing, and faux-naïf melodies often sampled by advertisers <span>(think Coke, Windows 8, and Old Navy)</span>. She's on tour for clubby new album <em>The Bright Side</em>; catch our Q&amp;A with her <a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/culturephile-portland-arts/articles/lenka-sweet-as-a-song-june-2015">here</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/make-music-pdx-june-2015"><strong>Make Music Day PDX</strong></a><br><em>Sunday from 11 am to 8 pm, Various locations</em><br><span>An outgrowth of the decades-old French Fête de la Musique, Make Music Day now takes over 725 cities worldwide with free shows from local musicians. Venues for Make Music Day PDX—hey, folks, it's the Summer Solstice!—range from Music Millennium to six public parks and a Beaverton Home Depot. Check the </span><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/makemusicdaypdx.org%20">website</a><span> for the live music happenings nearest you.</span></p>
<p class="section_title">VISUAL ART</p>
<p><span class="red-bkgd">OPENING</span> <a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/no-boundaries-aboriginal-australian-contemporary-abstract-painting-june-2015"><strong>No Boundaries: Aboriginal Contemporary Abstract Painting</strong></a><br><em>Saturday &amp; Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art</em><br>Modern art isn’t just the province of the urban western world, as is made clear by this touring exhibit of abstract works from nine Aboriginal Australian artists. The 75 works on display—from artists including Paddy Bedford and Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri—evoke ancient cultural practices and landscape features of Australia’s Western Desert. </p>
<p><span style="color: #36678c; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 26px; text-transform: uppercase;">BOOKS &amp; TALKS</span></p>
<figure class="c-align--left c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46378" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="left" data-image-caption="" data-image-selection='{"width":160,"height":160,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":160,"y2":160}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_160,w_160,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1434657766/1383090_166932276840396_1408437482_n_buccwx.jpg"></figure>
<p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/poetry-press-week-june-2015"><strong>Poetry Press Week</strong></a><br><em>Friday &amp; Saturday at 7 pm, Disjecta Contemporary Art Center</em><br><span>Poetry Press Week sends poems down the literary runway! Modeled on “Fashion Week” blowouts, eight participating poets choose a reader to showcase their own stunning creations.</span> </p>
<p class="section_title"><span>Theater</span></p>
<figure class="c-align--right c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46371" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="right" data-image-caption="Butt Kapinski: nobody said it was gonna be pretty. Photo credit: Deanna Fleysher." data-image-selection='{"width":813,"height":1034,"x1":0,"y1":46,"x2":813,"y2":1080}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_1034,w_813,x_0,y_46/c_limit,w_640/v1434654848/os-fringe-review-butt-kapinski-20150515_lzyqtc.jpg"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Butt Kapinski: nobody said it was gonna be pretty. Photo credit: Deanna Fleysher.</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/butt-kapinski-june-2015"><strong>Butt Kapinski</strong></a><br><em>Thursday–Sunday at 7:30 pm, CoHo Theatre</em><br><span>In the second show of CoHo's month-long Summerfest, farceur</span><em> </em><span>Deanna Fleysher plays a noirish private eye who knows how to navigate a murder scene. But when it comes to similes (and conventional gender identities), well, he gets a little lost.</span> </p>
<p><span class="red-bkgd">CLOSING</span> <a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/three-days-of-rain-march-2015"><strong>Three Days of Rain</strong></a><br><em>Thursday–Sunday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2 pm, Portland Center Stage</em><br>Last year,<em> Grimm</em> actor Sasha Roiz (Captain Renard) approached artistic director Chris Coleman to produce Richard Greenberg’s <em>Three Days</em>—a stage actor’s favorite in which siblings try to unravel the mystery of their architect parents, later playing the parents themselves, thirty years prior. In quite the buzz-worthy event for our star-hungry burg, Roiz next roped in castmate Silas Weir Mitchell to join him for their Portland stage debut. <a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/culturephile-portland-arts/articles/our-guide-to-portland-summer-theater-june-2015">Read more</a> in our summer theater guide<strong>.</strong></p>
<p><strong class="red-bkgd">CLOSING</strong><strong><strong><strong> <a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/the-liar-march-2015">The Liar<br></a></strong></strong></strong><em>Thursday–Sunday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2 pm, Artists Repertory Theatre<br></em>In his take on Pierre Corneille’s 1643 tale of mistaken identity and falsehoods, playwright David Ives respins a yarn so dazzling the <em>Wall Street Journal </em>asked if it was the funniest play ever written. We've got a <a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/culturephile-portland-arts/articles/review-the-liar-june-2015">review</a>!</p>
<p><span class="section_title">NO WEEKEND LEFT BEHIND!</span> <br>Each week, check back here for a weekend itinerary par excellence, excerpted from <strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/articles/perfect-portland-summer-june-2015">Portland Monthly's 2015 Summer Guide</a></strong>:</p>
<p class="highlight">JUNE 16–21: CELEBRATE THE LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR!</p>
<figure class="c-align--left c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46375" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="left" data-image-caption="Cooling down before the hot beats: What the Festival's stage-side wading pool is the size of two ice hockey rinks. Photo credit: WTF." data-image-selection='{"width":1024,"height":683,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":1024,"y2":683}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_683,w_1024,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1434657210/Splash-Party-1024x683_p8repg.jpg"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Cooling down before the hot beats: What the Festival's stage-side wading pool is the size of two ice hockey rinks. Photo credit: WTF.</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1">An “immersive rave” with the world’s largest wading pool, a hookah lounge, and electronic music out in the Gorge, basking in the shadows of Mounts Hood and Adams? Well, sure! <a href="http://whatthefestival.com/"><span class="s2"><strong>What The Festival</strong></span></a>’s fourth year should bring more of the artistically inclined, light-on-the-land, carnivalesque brand of fun that’s already lofted WTF to international acclaim on the festival circuit. Plus, showers and yoga and tea! But because a full weekend of raving in the sunshine can be, well, overwhelming, we won’t judge you for departing early to observe the <strong>summer solstice</strong> from the quieter sanctuary of your home on Sunday. We recommend jumping aboard a midmorning kayak tour with <strong>Alder Creek</strong>, which launches you from the Eastbank Esplanade on a three-mile paddle around Ross Island, where you’re likely to spot a good few of the 100 species of migratory birds that summer here, including bald eagles and great blue herons. Finish your splendidly chill day with a cold one in hand at the recently revived <strong>Skyline Tavern</strong> (8031 NW Skyline Blvd), where Ping-Pong, horseshoes, a DIY grill, and verdant views over the canopy of Forest Park offer the perfect punctuation for the longest day of the year.</span></p>
<p> </p>All in one weekend: Australian pop royalty and aboriginal abstract art, free concerts for the summer solstice, wading pools the size of ice rinks, and one very confused private eye.All in one weekend: Australian pop royalty and aboriginal abstract art, free concerts for the summer solstice, wading pools the size of ice rinks, and one very confused private eye.http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_1348,w_1350,x_0,y_193/c_limit,w_640/Promo_4_High_Res_Jpeg_Kirstin_Burns_kgd8sa.jpgRamona DeNiestag:www.portlandmonthlymag.com,2005:Article/124842015-06-16T14:20:00-07:002015-06-16T14:20:00-07:00Our Guide to Portland Summer Theater<figure class="c-align--center c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46267" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="center" data-image-caption="Foss Curtis, Lauren Bloom and Leif Norby in In the Next Room, or the vibrator play at Profile Theatre running through June 28, 2015. Photo by David Kinder." data-image-selection='{"scaling-type":"in-proportion","fill-color":"#000000","height":683,"width":995,"scale":"100","x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":995,"y2":683}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_683,w_995,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_1080/v1434489697/Screen_Shot_2015-06-16_at_2.18.31_PM_msomww.png"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Foss Curtis, Lauren Bloom and Leif Norby in In the Next Room, or the vibrator play at Profile Theatre running through June 28, 2015. Photo by David Kinder.</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p>It’s sizzling summertime, and things are heating up in Portland’s theater scene with plays about female “paroxysms” (ooh!) and misunderstood witches (ah!) among the shows we’re most excited about this season.</p>
<p><strong class="section_title">In the Next Room, or the Vibrator play</strong><em><br>At Profile Theatre, through June 28</em><br>Adriana Baer deftly directs Sarah Ruhl’s spin on Victorian sex therapy for “feminine hysteria” for <a href="%20profiletheatre.org">Profile Theater</a>. Tired? Nervous? Libido at a low ebb? If you’re a lady in the 1880s, you might require treatment from the good Dr. Givings. There are laughs aplenty in this tight period piece but Ruhl doesn’t shy away from some of the serious social concerns illuminated in this strangely mannered world. <strong>An able cast agilely steps from the comic to the tragic</strong>, the loneliness of a misogynistic, buttoned-up society offset by the fun of unbuttoning for Dr Givings’ vibrator. <strong><em>FM</em></strong></p>
<figure class="c-align--left c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46268" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="left" data-image-caption="Lisa Datz and Sasha Roiz in 'Three Days of Rain' at Portland Center Stage. Photo by Patrick Weishampel/www.blankeye.tv." data-image-selection='{"width":474,"height":586,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":474,"y2":586}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_586,w_474,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1434490995/Screen_Shot_2015-06-16_at_2.42.59_PM_r6bihb.png"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Lisa Datz and Sasha Roiz in 'Three Days of Rain' at Portland Center Stage. Photo by Patrick Weishampel/www.blankeye.tv.</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p><strong class="section_title">Three Days of Rain</strong><br><em>At Portland Center Stage, through June 21</em><br>Last year,<em> Grimm</em> actor Sasha Roiz (Captain Renard) approached artistic director Chris Coleman to produce Richard Greenberg’s <em>Three Days</em>—a stage actor’s favorite in which siblings try to unravel the mystery of their architect parents, later playing the parents themselves, thirty years prior. In quite the buzz-worthy event for our star-hungry burg, Roiz next roped in castmate Silas Weir Mitchell to join him for their Portland stage debut. <strong>Together with the sizzling </strong><strong>Lisa Datz, the <em>Grimm</em> stars certainly bring a new level of polish to the local scene, completely tearing up the first two acts in this <a href="pcs.org">Portland Center Stage</a> production. And then, for Act III—uh, nope, all done!</strong> If I sat awhile blinking when the lights came on, it was because I wasn’t sure the show was over, so abrupt and inconclusive was Greenberg’s finale. (Okay, and also because I was staring two rows up, where actor Russell Hornsby—<em>Grimm</em>’s Detective Griffin—stood, handsomely tapping on his phone.) <strong><em>RD</em></strong></p>
<figure class="c-align--right c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46273" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="right" data-image-caption="Scene from &lt;i&gt;The Liar&lt;/i&gt;. Photo by Owen Carey." data-image-selection='{"width":351,"height":388,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":351,"y2":388}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_388,w_351,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1434492601/Screen_Shot_2015-06-16_at_3.09.38_PM_om3vzm.png"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Scene from <i>The Liar</i>. Photo by Owen Carey.</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p><strong class="section_title">The Liar </strong><br><em>At Artist Repertory Theatre, through June 21</em><br>In this take on Pierre Corneille’s 1643 tale of mistaken identity and falsehoods, David<em> </em>Ives spins a yarn so dazzling the <em>Wall Street Journal </em>asked if it was the funniest play ever written. The truth? It's hard not to be captivated by Ives’s 2010 <em>translaptation</em> (“translation with a heavy dose of adaptation”), which includes insanely fast-paced wordplay, witty repartee, and a plot to make your head spin. By the end of Act II, we’re witnessing a veritable Busby Berkeley blow-out, with multiple marriages, a shocking familial reveal, and a hazy feeling that you’ve already forgotten the plot. <strong>If you like your truth-tartare not so, um, raw, <a href="artistsrep.org">Artist Rep's</a> <em>The Liar</em>’s got your dish.</strong><strong><em> </em><em>Rachel Davidson</em></strong></p>
<p><strong class="section_title">CoHo Summerfest</strong><em><br>At <a href="%20cohoproductions.org">CoHo Theater</a>, through July 12</em><strong><br>June 11–14 <span class="boldcaps">The Wildly Inappropriate Poetry of Arthur Greenleaf Holmes </span></strong>Summerfest 2015 is off to a rollicking start<strong> </strong>with the robust recitations of Gordy Boudreau’s fictional 19th-century “libertine poet” (<em>not</em> for children or unplucked maids). Punctuated by winkingly feigned concern for his audience, the veteran Renn Faire performer holds forth with rhyming verse on undropped testicles, cheese, and “menstrual huts.” I would have fled the room red-cheeked (as Boudreau repeatedly invited the audience to do) had I not been incapacitated by laughter. <em>RD</em><strong><br>June 18–21 <span class="boldcaps">Butt Kapinski </span></strong>Farceur<em> </em>Deanna Fleysher’s noirish private eye knows all about murder scenes. But when it comes to similes (and conventional gender identities), well, he gets a little lost.<strong><br>June 25–28 <span class="boldcaps">Loon </span></strong>Puppets, mimes, and masks: physical theater troupe the Wonderheads enliven the silence with a “most peculiar love story.”<strong><br>July 2–5 <span class="boldcaps">The Peasant’s Bible </span></strong>Shaking the Tree’s Samantha Van Der Merwe directs Michael Kerrigan in this five-monologue compendium from Nobel-winning Italian folklorist Dario Fo, master of “illegitimate” theater.<strong><br>July 9–12 <span class="boldcaps">Drowned Horse Tavern (A Sea Shanty Cabaret) </span></strong>What do you do with a drunken sailor? If your answer involves a rusty razor (or the captain’s daughter) then you’re on track for what Amber Whitehall, Christi Miles, and Rebecca Lingafelter have planned. Promised: salty dogs, vaudeville, leviathans.</p>
<figure class="c-align--left c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46272" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="left" data-image-caption="&lt;i&gt;Time, A Fair Hustler&lt;/i&gt;: Photograph by Alex Huebsch " data-image-selection='{"width":619,"height":533,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":619,"y2":533}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_533,w_619,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_640/v1434491907/Screen_Shot_2015-06-16_at_2.55.09_PM_kyvzbm.png"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p><i>Time, A Fair Hustler</i>: Photograph by Alex Huebsch </p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p><strong class="section_title">Time, A Fair Hustler</strong><br><em>At Artists Repertory Theatre, July 28–Aug 16</em><br>Where among today’s condos and food carts would we find the hustlers, thieves, and Rat Kings of Gus Van Sant’s 1991 cult classic <em>My Own Private Idaho</em>? <a href="hand2mouththeatre.org">Hand2Mouth</a>’s mixed-media premiere reconvenes the characters of the original film to tackle questions of history, nostalgia, and survival. </p>
<p><strong class="section_title">Taming of the Shrew </strong><em><br>At Various Locations, July 11–Sept 7</em><br>Bust out your best picnic basket and blanket for the 46th season of free summertime Shakespeare in the Park. Over this nine-week run of the Bard’s classic farce, <a href="portlandactors.com">PAE</a>’s troupe, directed by Patrick Walsh, performs in alfresco locations including the Concordia and Reed campuses, three wineries, and Laurelhurst Park. </p>
<p><strong class="section_title">The Elixir of Love </strong><em><br>At Newmark Theatre, July 12</em><br>Snake oil, cowpokes, and echoes of <em>Tristan and Isolde</em>: this Wild West version of Gaetano Donizetti’s 1832 love story caps <a href="portlandopera.org">Portland Opera</a>'s golden anniversary season with a 10-gallon hat and plenty of bel canto from stars Matthew Grills and Katrina Galka. <em><br></em></p>
<p><strong><span class="section_title">Original Practice Shakespeare Festival</span> <br></strong><em>At various locations, June 21<sup>_</sup>August 23</em><br>Out to prove that the Bard can’t be tamed, <a href="opsfest.org">OPS</a> returns for its seventh season of rollicking outdoor shows—some all-male, some all-female, and some definitely not suitable for the kiddies—of classics including <em>The Comedie of Errors</em>, <em>Romeo and Juliet</em>, and (new to OPS this year) <em>Richard III</em> and <em>The</em> <em>Merry Wives of Windsor</em>. <em><br></em></p>
<p><strong class="section_title">Wicked </strong><em><br>At the Keller Auditorium, Aug 5–23</em></p>
<figure class="c-align--center c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46270" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="center" data-image-caption="Carrie St. Louis and Alyssa Fox in &lt;i&gt;Wicked&lt;/i&gt;" data-image-selection='{"width":917,"height":448,"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":917,"y2":448}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_448,w_917,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_1080/v1434491577/Screen_Shot_2015-06-16_at_2.51.44_PM_b54euj.png"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Carrie St. Louis and Alyssa Fox in <i>Wicked</i></p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p>This musical reimagining takes on two of the most famous characters in the Land of Oz: Glinda the Good, and the Wicked Witch of the West (known, in Winnie Holzman’s adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s novel, as Elphaba). Stephen Schwartz’s Grammy-winning score has helped keep this box-office blockbuster flying since its 2003 premiere.<em><br></em></p>
<p><strong class="section_title">Up the Fall </strong><em><br>At Artists Repertory Theatre, Aug 22–29</em><br>Beloved Portland singer-songwriter Laura Gibson’s first-ever musical score, written exclusively for this world premiere from Oregon playwright Debbie Lamedman, was destroyed this March in a fire at her New York City apartment building. The flames of Gibson’s creativity are not so easily squelched, however. The show—a myth-and-folktale mash-up starring local actors with and without disabilities produced by <a href="phamepdx.org">Phame</a>—goes on! <br> <em></em></p>
<p><em> <br></em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Your summer is packed and so is the theater schedule. Don't sweat it, Portland: We pick the shows we're most excited about this summer so you don't have to. Here's this season's playbill...Your summer is packed and so is the theater schedule. Don't sweat it, Portland: We pick the shows we're most excited about this summer so you don't have to. Here's this season's playbill...http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_474,w_474,x_0,y_56/c_limit,w_640/Screen_Shot_2015-06-16_at_2.42.59_PM_r6bihb.pngTHEATERFiona McCanntag:www.portlandmonthlymag.com,2005:Article/124672015-06-11T13:00:00-07:002015-06-11T13:00:00-07:00The Rake's Progress: See the Opera's Wild Makeover in 10 Photos<figure class="c-align--right c-media c-media--image mceNonEditable" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="46191" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="right" data-image-caption="Newlyweds Baba the Turk and Tom Rakewell. Photo credit: Portland Opera" data-image-selection='{"width":2322,"height":1782,"x1":0,"y1":70,"x2":2322,"y2":1852}'><img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_1782,w_2322,x_0,y_70/c_limit,w_640/v1434055366/newleyweds_Baba_the_Turk__Angela_Niederloh__and_Tom_Rakewell_d5mjqr.jpg"><figcaption class="mceNonEditable"><div class="c-media__caption mceNonEditable"><p>Newlyweds Baba the Turk and Tom Rakewell. Photo credit: Portland Opera</p></div></figcaption></figure>
<p>Composer Igor Stravinksy’s operatic take on the 18th century William Hogarth morality tale of Tom Rakewell—a ne’er-do-well who goes from riches to rags in a Faustian bargain—<strong>got a crazy makeover in 1974, when art megastar David Hockney was enlisted to create a wild new look</strong> for a Scottish production.</p>
<p>Now Portland Opera restages Hockney’s vision of <em>The Rake’s Progress</em> with three performances timed to parallel <a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/david-hockney-a-rakes-progress-april-2015">an exhibition at Portland Art Museum</a>.</p>
<p>We get a behind-the-scenes look at Hockney’s set and costume designs in living color—see the complete slideshow below!—as the curtain rises on <strong>this Pacific Northwest premiere</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/the-rakes-progress-march-2015">The Rake's Progress</a> plays June 11–14 at Keller Auditorium</strong></p>
<div class="inline-slideshow-block inline-slideshow mceNonEditable" data-include-caption="true" data-slideshow-id="1454">
<div align="center">
<div class="slideshow-image-div"><a class="slideshow-image-link" href="/slideshows/the-rakes-progress-in-10-photos-june-2015"> <span class="slideshow-image-wrapper" style="width: 640px;"> <img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_limit,w_640/the_brothel_l0lu2m.jpg" alt=""> </span> </a></div>
</div>
</div>
See the David Hockney set design that rocked the opera world—now in Portland for a Pacific Northwest premiere.See the David Hockney set design that rocked the opera world—now in Portland for a Pacific Northwest premiere.http://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_535,w_534,x_508,y_108/c_limit,w_640/newleyweds_Baba_the_Turk__Angela_Niederloh__and_Tom_Rakewell_uxzpzz.jpgOPERARamona DeNies